The biggest policy boost for clean energy during President Obama’s second term isn’t coming from the Department of Energy or from Congress — it’s coming from the Environmental Protection Agency.

This morning, the EPA finally announced plans to slash carbon emissions from 1,000 fossil-fueled power plants by 30 percent compared to 2005 levels over the next decade and a half. The proposed rule creates a flexible framework that allows states to cut emissions through utility efficiency programs, renewable energy procurement, on-site pollution controls and regional cap-and-trade programs.

In a speech this morning unveiling what the EPA is calling the “clean power plan,” EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said she wanted to “turn climate risk into business opportunity” by using new rules to help grow the share of clean energy in the generation mix.